Today is the 95th birthday of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, only days after the death and burial of her husband of 73 years. She has served her country well and overseen a period of tremendous change in the life of Britain and the British …
Category: Bible Exegesis
Foolish government according to wise king Solomon
Wise king Solomon's book of Ecclesiastes gives much wisdom for daily life, just as his book of Proverbs gives wise advice particularly to the young. A summary of Ecclesiastes chapter 10 runs as follows: Working conditions The damaging effect of a little folly upon one's reputation v1, and the more so when it becomes endemic …
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Choosing wisely for public office
"Wisdom is better than weapons of war: but one sinner destroys much good."The wise king Solomon's Book of Ecclesiastes 9:18 The context is public life Ecc 9:14-17 and the wise is contrasted with the fool Ecc 9:17. One fool in public life can destroy much good. A whole city can ignore the wise Ecc 9:15-16. …
Eclectic exegesis
The need of the hour is to expose eclectic exegesis for what it is – choosy and subjective. 'Eclectic' derives from the concept of 'choosing out' from a variety of choices. Eclectic has a wide meaning and it is often applied in a positive sense to indicate that one is not narrow-minded but that one …
My YouTube channel
Today is the second anniversary of my brother Andrew's death. It is also the 49th anniversary of my reading the whole Bible for the first time on 22/8/1971. I have read the Bible daily ever since and now I spend several hours a day on my Bible commentary, making its teaching accessible to ordinary people, …
John Bunyan and biblical metaphors
I attended a useful lecture last night on The Forgotten John Bunyan, whose Pilgrim's Progress is a Christian classic. The adjective 'Forgotten' in the title referred not so much to Bunyan himself but in part to Bunyan's language, imagination and use of metaphors, which were controversial in 17th-century British Christianity. Pilgrim's Progress is sometimes described …
A summary of the New Testament in the Christian Bible
I recently summarised examples of Jesus’ extraordinary conversation in the Gospel of John. I hope it will be helpful to have a brief summary of the New Testament. Background – language and layout The New Testament was written after the Lord Jesus Christ appeared on Earth. In contrast, the Old Testament was written before He …
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Biblical repentance
Roman Catholic doctrine continues to be seen in the presbyterian practice of repentance. Whereas presbyterians may preach biblical repentance, some presbyterian procedures involve Roman Catholic penance in practice. Whereas preaching may not be legalistic, practice can be. It reminds us of the Saviour's warning to do as authorised officialdom says, but not to do as …
Code exegesis
There are people who exegete Scripture as if it is code. I call it code exegesis and it is over three years since I intended to explain it more fully. As Scripture clearly has Old Testament types of Christ and symbols of various spiritual matters, this has developed into a form of allegorising that sees …
Learning basic Exegesis
There are some basics in exegesis that Christians can learn and develop to improve their personal Bible study and their discussion at collective Bible studies. Drawing out of (ex-egesis) the Scripture will feed the soul. Which is the most significant word in the following sentence? "The red car went down the hill." You may say …
